Look, I’ll admit it. I couldn’t care less about most of the British monarchy. I’ve never been a fan of King Charles. Like many people around the world, I condemned his continuing relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles while married to Princess Diana. I hated the way the media hounded Diana, especially after her divorce from Charles. The latter hounding is why I call “BS!” every time I see Prince Harry whining about wanting his privacy and fearing for the safety of his wife and children because “media!”. If he was so worried about that, why in the world did he agree to the Oprah interview, write the book and agree to the Netflix series that will only stir up more controversy, more media interest and keep the Sussexes in the public eye?
The answer is simple: he might or might not want to live a private life but his wife sure as hell doesn’t.
Remember, the couple fled the UK, stepping down as working royals to do so, for the “privacy” and “mental health”. But instead of fading into the background like you’d expect, they did the exact opposite. They tried capitalizing on their royal connections online until Queen Elizabeth II shut that down. They did the Oprah interview, knowing it would not only act like chum to the media but that it would piss off the Royals back home in England. They signed a deal with Netflix for megabucks, promising to spill the beans on how badly the House of Windsor treated them.
But they want their privacy.
Riiiight.
Now, only a few months after the death of Harry’s supposedly beloved “granny”, QEII, the Netflix series is about to be released. As if there wasn’t enough controversy surrounding it, we’re starting to see what a shitshow it’s going to be.
Or, perhaps, we should look at it as the work of fiction most of us expected.
In the first trailer released by Netflix, we’re treated to a scene that shows a large number of “paparazzi” trying to get a photo of what we are expected to believe is the royal couple. Except it isn’t. They were trying to get shots of the stars of the Harry Potter movies.
Hmmm.
The last shot of that first trailer is Meghan sitting there saying something along the lines of “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?”
What stakes?
They chose to leave their roles as active royals. They chose to leave England. They claimed it was to protect their privacy, etc., but every time you turn around, there they are. All too often, they are playing the victim. But are they really the victims here?
The second trailer adds to the problematical nature of this project, at least in my eyes. More questionable images. More attempts to paint them into the role of hounded victims like Princess Diana. More, well, just more.
One of the images shown in the trailer was taken when the Sussexes, along with son Archie, toured Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s South African residence several years ago. The photo is taken from a balcony and is presumably meant to illustrate how far photogs will go to get a shot of the royal couple. Except there’s a problem, one that shoots holes in their narrative.
You see, that wasn’t some random paparazzo. The photographer was part of the accredited press presence at Bishop Desmond’s home.
https://twitter.com/theroyaleditor/status/1599799660335472641
All I can do is shake my head and wonder why two people, two parents, who claim to be so worried about their privacy and the safety of their children continue to stir the media waters and court so much media attention.
Will I be watching the series?
Hell no.
I won’t reward either the Sussexes or Netflix by doing so. Perhaps instead of spending so much time trying to convince us they are victims, they might want to concentrate on their family and on attaining the privacy they claim they so desperately want.
Frankly, all this reminds me of a PR effort and makes me wonder if it isn’t part of Markle’s desire to become President. Since she can’t be Queen, why not be the first woman POTUS?
Rolls eyes.
Featured image created using Midjourney AI.
I’ll admit that the last time I thought about Harry and Meghan was to wonder if that couple in the latest Kay Jewelers commercial was them, but I don’t think they’ve fallen that far yet.
What stakes?
I suspect this is precisely the problem. The truth is that Harry is currently 5th in line for the British throne, and at the rate that William and Kate have been having kids, he’s likely to fall further. No one really cares what the guy 5th in line for the throne does—but I don’t think that Meghan married him in order live a life where no one really cares what she does. It seems like they’re trying to force people to care and invent some stakes.
Unfortunately for them, “guy 5th in line for the throne and his wife make total asses of themselves” isn’t really a new and clever storyline either. Sorry, but all of Harry’s uncles and aunts already did that back in the 90s, and with far more interesting characters and dramatic plot twists. At best, Harry and Meghan are like the remake of “Charmed”: a redo of a project that wasn’t all that good the first time around and that is destined to sink without a trace before most people even realize it existed.
I’m pretty sure that Meghan latched on to Harry for the glitz and glamour of a royal lifestyle without fully realizing that Britain is a foreign country with a totally different culture.
We Americans tend to think that all men and women are created equal, and while we may be star struck when we meet a celebrity, they’re still people like us (just richer). That attitude doesn’t fly in the UK. Royals aren’t celebrities, they are most definitely of a higher class than you are, and they may be friendly, but you still follow the rules. I can picture the look on Meghan’s face when she was told that she had to curtsy to her Granny-in-Law.
I imagine her disappointment in the difference between being a Disney princess and being a real Princess was a major part of her reason for pushing Harry to leave the UK.
Babylon Bee has a wonderful skewering of them up. I think you’ll get a kick out of it:
Harry And Meghan Announce Netflix Special About How Much They Want Privacy | Babylon Bee
https://babylonbee.com/news/harry-and-meghan-announce-netflix-special-about-how-much-they-want-privacy